When he returns
by NorthStarGirl
Summary: Peter hasn't been back to the mainland in so long... not since Wendy grew up. He has no idea how much time has passed, and he certainly doesn't know how much the world has changed. And when he meets a girl... will his world change too?
1. The begging of the end of what they knew

Astaria's POV

I let my fingers fly across the piano, playing my favorite song. I closed my eyes and imagined faeries dancing to the music in a forest lit just by starlight. My mom put up with my fantasies when I was little, but now she wanted nothing to do with them, always telling me to grow up, and tell me they were ridiculous. But my dad, who always wanted to be a writer, and was writing a book in his spare time loved hearing about my fantasies. He could take me out at night onto our balcony and ask me to come up with a short story, choosing one thing I saw to make the main feature of my story. Then he would to the same. The song ended and I opened my eyes to see my dad sitting in his chair, his laptop on his lap and typing away. He took a moment to pause and look up at me.

"Why did you stop?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"The song's over." I told him. He laughed to himself.

"Of course, how silly of me, well, why don't you play something else? One where you sing too." He told me. I nodded and picked up my guitar instead but stayed on the piano bench and played Stars, by Caroline Lost. I was halfway through the second verse when my mom came into the room, anger pretty obvious all over her.

"Will you stop with that noise!" She demanded. I stopped playing and my father looked up from his computer. "There's never a quiet moment in this house! You two are always making noise! Giving me such a headache!" She kept going on. "Get up and do something useful for a change." She told me.

"Don't speak to her like that." My dad said putting his laptop aside and standing up. "Don't take your stress out on her." He said, trying to be as gentle with his voice as he could.

"No, she needs to grow up and realize that life isn't about faeries or whatever the hell it is she's constantly going on about." My mom yelled at us. My dad always tried hard not to get mad, but I knew it wasn't easy. I never could, but he was so level headed. My mom could be wonderful at times too, but she got irritated or annoyed or stressed so easily then she would end up taking it out on us. My parents began arguing and I stood up and grabbed my coat and slipped on my shoes. I nodded to my dad and held up my phone and slipped it into my pocket. He nodded and turned his attention back to my mom and I left the house. I put my coat on to avoid the autumn chill. I walked for a while until I finally got to my favorite park. I climbed the tree my mom taught me to climb when I was younger. It was the largest tree and back then she had so much fun with me. But as I got older she lost that. She didn't have much interest in a 15 year old it seemed. I sighed and looked out into the sky where the sun was covered by clouds, and I wondered when I would feel wanted, and for the first time in a long while I was alone. For the first time in a long while, I let tears slip from my eyes.

Peter's Pov

I played the song that felt so familiar on my fingers. I didn't even have to think about it anymore, my fingers placed themselves along my flute as I played. I couldn't remember where I had gotten it, but I could remember what I had once used it for. Curley had used it to get my memory, or at least some of it back. Wendy had tried to play on it but she didn't care much for it. I hadn't visited the main land in a long, long time. Wendy soon after, and eventually, so did John and Michael. She stopped telling stories, and busied herself with the joys and sorrows of grown up life. and me, I remained a 15, nearly 16 year old boy. After that I only went back once. After they grew up. It was on Christmas there. They were all at the Darling's house, which Wendy continued to live in, along with her husband, son and daughter. John was over too with his wife and son, and Michael too, with his newly wedded wife. Mr and Mrs. Darling were there too, as it was Christmas. I had fallen in love with Wendy, but she chose this life, and I had chosen mine. I didn't want to return to London. Return to the east side with my crew, be street picketers again. Our life in Neverland was so much better, but I just wished Fox had lived to see it. To live it. He was one of the oldest of us. He had given so much thought to the future that none of us had ever thought about. He had planned to get a job, get a house of his own, fall in love, get married. And he would have loved the life we had now, but he was gone. My best mate gone forever because I messed up, and trusted the wrong person. I wish he knew how sorry I was. I knew how the other boys looked up to him. So I tried to make life for them as he would have wanted it. I put my flute down and looked out into the night sky and thought some more, until I realized something. It had been ages since I visited the main land. it hadn't felt like so long, but maybe that was because time worked differently here. I jumped up.

"Tink." I yelled and almost instantly she was floating in front of me. "We're going to London."


	2. Meeting You

Peter's POV

I sat on the top of Big Ben as the sun was going down and looked over what used to be my home. I barely even recognized it. Some parts of it, Westminster, Big Ben, the palace, they all looked the same, but there were so many high buildings that I had never seen. London looked… so much busier. I looked at Tink who was staring at everything.

"It sure has changed hasn't it Tink?" I asked her. She nodded. "Do you want to fly around and check things out?" I asked her. She nodded again so I stood up and jumped from Big Ben, letting the wind rush through my hair. We flew in silence until I found a nice looking park and flew down so I landed perfectly in a branch. I sat down and looked around. It was almost dark. I had tuned out the world but now I decided to listen and that's when I heard it. A noise that sounded slightly strange and out of place compared to everything. Tink tapped my shoulder and pointed to one of the other trees not too far from ours, and sat in it was a girl, and she was crying. She wiped tears from her eyes and moved her long dark hair away from her face but stared longingly out into the sky, continuing to cry. I looked closely at her, captivated by how out of place she seemed in this setting. She leaned her head back against the tree.

"Tink I want to talk to her." I told the faerie.

"Peter you'll frighten her." She replied through my mind.

"I'll climb the tree and pretend to accidentally not notice her then talk to her." I told Tink and before she could protest I flew down from the tree and walked over to the tree the mysterious girl was sitting in and began to climb. I was a little rusty, because when you could fly, climbing isn't really something you think of often, but it does come in handy. Luckily the girl hadn't climbed far up, just far enough up so that she wasn't visible from below, and she had chosen a spot where there were three branches attached, so I had a place. I finally made it to where she was and she looked at me as I came up and jumped. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, I didn't know this branch was taken." I told her and began to start getting ready to go down again. She wiped her eyes quickly. She looked around the same age as I was. Well… the same age I was when I left London.

"No, that's alright. You can stay if you like. I don't own the tree." she said jokingly. I smiled in appreciation and sat in the branch beside her.

"Do you come here often?" I asked her. She nodded.

"All the time. It's sort of my thinking tree." She told me. I noticed her eyes were still glassy and her voice trembled slightly, but I knew she was trying her best to calm herself down. "Do you?" she asked me. I shook my head.

"I haven't been here for a long time." I told her. She nodded her head and pulled out something rectangular out of her pocket and began tapping the screen. I looked at it curiously and saw the date. January 2nd, 2013. I stifled a gasp when I realized just how long it had been since I had been to London. I was over one hundred years old. I could hardly believe it. She groaned and glared at her rectangular object, snapping me back to reality.

"My phones dead." She said to no one in particular. She shoved it back in her pocket and looked at me.

"I should go. My dad texted me telling me he was worried. It was nice meeting you." she told me. Texted? What is a texted?

"Wait. I didn't catch your name." I said trying to stop her. She gave a small laugh.

"That's because I didn't tell you. It's Astaria." She told me.

"That's a beautiful name," I replied "mine's Peter." We paused for a moment before I spoke again.

"I hope to see you again Astaria." I said to her. This time, she gave a real smile.

"I do too Peter." She said, and with that, she was climbing down the tree, but I couldn't just let her go. So, I followed her, keeping my distance, flying behind her until she reached her house. It was a beautiful house, it looked much like one of the houses that I always wanted 'to live in when I was a boy. She opened the door and went inside, and I flew back to the park, the thought of her imprinted in my head.

Astaria's POV 

I jumped when a boy's head appeared suddenly near me.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, I didn't know this branch was taken." He told me and began to start getting ready to go down again. I wiped my eyes quickly.

"No, that's alright. You can stay if you like. I don't own the tree." I said, trying to add a joke. The boy smiled at me and sat down' on one of the branches near me.

"Do you come here often?" He asked me. I nodded.

"All the time. It's sort of my thinking tree." I told him, and I felt my eyes tear up again. I tried taking deep breaths and looking up to stop the tears from coming. "Do you?" I asked him once I managed to get my voice back under control with minimal trembling. He shook his head.

"I haven't been here for a long time." He told me. I nodded and pulled my phone out of my pocket and realized how late it was. There was a text from my dad, a few actually, asking me if I was alright and where I was. I was about to reply when my phone shut off. I groaned and glared at my phone

"My phones dead." I muttered to myself. I looked back at the boy.

"I should go. My dad texted me telling me he was worried. It was nice meeting you." I told him. A look of confusion washed over his face for a few moments as I moved so I was ready to climb down.

"Wait. I didn't catch your name." He said abruptly. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"That's because I didn't tell you. It's Astaria." I told him.

"That's a beautiful name," He replied "mine's Peter." Neither one of us said anything for a few moments before the Peter broke the silence.

"I hope to see you again Astaria." He said to me. This time, I felt a smile paint itself across my face. A full, real smile.

"I do too Peter." I said, and began climbing down. Once my feet were on the ground, I looked back up at the mysterious boy. He was very sweet, and he had made me feel better. I hoped that I would see him again. He occupied my thoughts all the way home. When I reached my house, I unlocked the door and stepped inside. My dad was on the couch and when he saw me he stood up and hugged me.

"Why didn't you reply? Is everything alright? Did anything happen? You know you should be staying out so late!" my dad told me. He almost never yelled, and he wasn't even now, he was just speaking a little louder than usual. "I was so worried." He told me, quieting his voice.

"I know I should have staying out that late dad, I just lost track of the time, and I saw your text right when I checked what time it was and my phone died." I said pulling it out to show him. He nodded.

"Alright sweet heart, I'm just happy you're alright." He told me giving me another hug. "Now, go wash up, and I'll make us supper. Mum went out with one of her friends, so it's just us. Supper on the couch with a movie?" he asked me. I smiled and nodded my head rapidly.

"Sounds perfect dad." I told him. I walked upstairs and realized my window was open. I went to shut it, but something stopped me. From my window, I could faintly see the park, but what caught my eye was the boy sitting in the tree, the very same tree. He was still there, and with that, thoughts and questions of Peter came rushing back.


End file.
